Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Sigma Editor: Sigma

"Void Faceless, you want to build a pioneer village and make it a base for your followers, am I right?" Snow asked when she knew Sui Xiong's situation.

"Correct. Although I have yet to build my own belief system, it will happen one day," Sui Xiong said quite frankly.

"Then, I have a suggestion," Snow said. She snapped her fingers and frost began to move quickly on the "blackboard". Soon a big map appeared.

She pointed at the map and said, "As you can see, the four towns in the northwest were distributed along the wasteland that extends from the south to the north. In the far north, another one or two villages could be set up. No one has ever explored there because it's too cold in the winter. But I think for Your Majesty and your followers, it may not be a problem. I believe a God who is good at practicing cold magic should easily manage to keep his followers safe from the cold."

Then, the map faded, and on the blackboard, another picture appeared. It was of a man, in an icy world, bare to his waist and showing off his muscles. One could see the sweat evaporating from his forehead.

Seeing the jellyfish floating in the sky nod, Snow said, "Since you can manage to keep your followers from the cold, then land cultivation and crop-planting shouldn't be a problem either. In this environment, the cold weather will not be a barrier to keep your followers from living and multiplying. Instead it will function as a type of natural protection for them. This protection may not work on warcrafts, but it would keep out of any people with bad intentions."

On the blackboard, another picture appeared, this one of a group of men in armor trying to attack the bare-chested man. But they froze on their way to him.

Sui Xiong thought this for a while and nodded. Snow was right. As a god who was very good at practicing cold magic, he had some special tactics to resist the cold.

Normally, one would resist the cold by making himself warm, but for Sui Xiong, he could absorb cold air. When it was absorbed, all that was left was warm air. So if he put a doppelgänger in each of his pioneer village or created a magic array that could concentrate the cold air, he would be able to create a warm haven in this icy world, a warm southern town that actually existed in the cold north.

Besides, according to what he'd learned from the God of Redemption, a brilliant god should make his followers constantly aware of his existence and power, which increases their faithfulness. A warm town in the cold north would definitely remind his pioneers of his power and would help to enhance their belief.

"This is a really good suggestion, but executing it will cost too much," Palin said after calculating the cost secretly, since his time in the commercial corps made him very sensitive to money. "A pioneer can only be recruited from the Federation of Gold Coins, and sending them to a place at a higher latitude than Dragon-roar Town would be very costly. Moreover, building a village in an icy world would consume too much manpower and material resources, even if we had help from His Majesty's great power!"

Palin shook his head and sighed, "Madam Snow, your plan is indeed very appealing, but I think we can only turn it into a reality when our church has grown to a certain level with a solid foundation."

Palin's words made lots of sense, and Sui Xiong couldn't help but nod.

Each of my four followers has their own advantages: Gerrard has a very strong combat effectiveness and he's good at teaching students, so he will easily earn his reputation among the pioneers; Palin is hardworking and likes thinking, and he also has some knowledge of business and can give valuable suggestions at key moments; Satan is very experienced and can practice very advanced spells, as well as having made many acquaintances with people in the upper-middle class; and Rhode is very cautious and careful, the perfect one to double-check things and effectively prevent the team from making mistakes.

Just like the famous saying on Earth, talent really is the most valuable resource! If I want to build a church and cultivate my followers and became a real God, I need to recruit more talent.

"You are right, but you are a bit short-sighted," Snow shook her head, smiled and said. "After all, you are still young…you are just like my brother Shuang. He thinks he's capable of everything, and I believe you've seen how capable he really is."

Meanwhile, on the blackboard, there was a picture of a proud little dragon facing the sky with fire coming out of its mouth, while next to the little dragon, there were a big and little dragon both sighing together. Instantly, this picture faded. Snow said, "Naturally, a god doesn't need to hurriedly cultivate his followers. A century is not long, nor is a thousand years, since the god is immortal. When a myriad of years has passed, when even I have become a pile of bones with only a bit cold air left, the Void Faceless will be the same, and His Majesty will be even more mature and experienced."

"However, for a new-born god, the first steps in developing a church have to be steady and firm. This is just like building a house; you need to lay a very firm foundation!"

At the same time, a new picture appeared on the blackboard, in which a magnificent castle was being built on the ground. Under the castle, many big rocks had been driven into the soil, and the castle was standing firm in the pouring rain.

"Why?" Sui Xiong was not yet persuaded, so instead he asked for the dragon's reasoning. He hadn't read anything about this in the materials given to him by the God of Redemption.

Seeing Sui Xiong was still confused, Snow said, "As you put it, you want to set up one or two pioneer villages a bit farther south where anyone can explore. With this method, you can indeed set up an area where your followers are gathered, but it will take time for your followers' faith to grow. So how can you make sure that you get a great number of followers quickly and steadily? How could His Majesty better show his power to the people of this world?"

Snow raised up a slim white finger and used her magic to draw a scene with the frost, in which there was a group of people faithfully worshiping a huge jellyfish floating in the air, and the rest were hidden in a mysterious mist full of many eyes, both friendly and cunning.

She was really good at drawing, and her drawing style was more like Chibi style than a realistic style. Even if she just drew some eyes, one could still clearly see the attitude and emotion behind the eyes.

"For a god to announce himself to the world, his first step has to be beautiful and impressive! As you already know, there are many gods in this world. To be able to develop smoothly, a new-born god has to bring his allies to his side in order to fight against his enemies. The more you demonstrate your advantages, the more allies you'll find, and then neutral gods won't make enemies out of you so you'll have less potential conflicts."

"The world of a god is a cruel one. Not every god is as nice as His Majesty—besides, most of the gods in this world are not mild: if you don't show them your power and strength, you'll be attacked by the ones whose priesthood is not in conflict with Your Majesty's, simply because they want to gain more allies of their own or just to take your magic power."

As Snow was explaining, the eyes in the mist were increasing, and most of them now seemed full of malicious intent.

"Let them come then! I hate to provoke others, but I am not afraid of fighting." Sui Xiong stared at the picture, and he was a bit surprised. He wasn't afraid at all; rather he was full of ambition.

Fight? Fine! I am not afraid of anyone!

Snow sighed and said, "But this means you will have to fight a group of gods when you are officially apotheosized. Even if you alone manage to defeat a group of gods, most of your followers may be consumed. Is this what you really want?"

The picture suddenly changed. Now there was a huge jellyfish spreading all his tentacles and holding many weapons. It was battling against countless eyes in the mist, while on the ground, there was a big fire burning, people were fleeing, and most of them had already been burned to death. A terrifying scene indeed.

Seeing that this picture was not an exaggeration, Sui Xiong was speechless.

When he'd fought an old treant which was a half-god, the damage they had caused was as serious as a natural disaster. If he had to fight in a place like his own pioneer village, his followers and even Gerrard might die.

"By comparison, you can make those speculators give up the idea of attacking by cultivating a huge group of followers and establishing a holy place that would seem like a miracle in the human world. They you'd just need to fight a few gods whose priesthood conflicts with yours. This way, you'll have a better opportunity to win and avoid the deaths of your followers."

She was not talking very loudly but it was very convincing. In the picture, more and more eyes were becoming friendly. "In fact, if you can show the gods that you have such brilliant vision and capabilities, the ones that are against you may not want to challenge you directly, and you'll be able to be apotheosized quite smoothly!"

Sui Xiong was nodding and staring at the picture, in which the cunning eyes gradually decreased until there were only a few hiding in the distance. He was silent for a long time and let out a long sigh.

"You are right!"

Strangely, Sui Xiong recalled what Liu Bei said after he had a conversation with Zhuge Liang in Long Zhong (in the modern city of Xiang Yang): "Having found Zhuge Liang, I am as happy as a fish that has found water!"

Snow's explanation and the vivid chalk pictures on the plate made Sui Xiong suddenly see things clearly.

Before, Sui Xiong had always felt that he didn't know much about this world and he needed an adviser. After hearing Snow's logical and very persuasive analysis, the idea of having an adviser rose again, and he had never been so eager before.

"I need an adviser!" he said to himself, "and the perfect adviser is right in front of me! An adviser who knows this world fully and has abundant experience and knowledge. Besides she is also a painter—this is very important! It's the first time I've met a person here who likes drawing!"

Thinking this, he stopped hesitating and said very earnestly, "Madam Snow, you are absolutely right! I want you to help me and be my adviser and give me advice and suggestions. Will you?"

Snow laughed and said, "I've been waiting for you to say that for such a long time. If I didn't want to be your adviser, why would I have said all this to you?"

Sui Xiong was surprised and could not help laughing.